Where has Steady Ready been?
That was the question that many asked when the once boom runner from the Tony and Maddysen Sears stable appeared at an official trial at Doomben this week, having last tasted race action back at the end of January … a race in which he came home in third place as a beaten favourite at the restrictive odds of $1.65.
“He had to have a very minor operation on both of his knees after that run at the Sunny Coast, where everyone thought he was quite disappointing. That’s why he has been away,” explained co-trainer Maddy Sears.
“So, he had both knees operated on. The way it has worked out it was probably a blessing in disguise because he is a bigger, stronger horse now and his work has been absolutely impeccable.
In the trial itself, Steady Ready did play more of a cameo than a starring role when pitted against the likes of the also returning Group 1 winner Uncommon James, who won the trial in most impressive fashion, and the more than useful Ekaterina … but it remained a very solid effort from Steady Ready, arguably putting right where the stable want him to be at this stage of his comeback.
“All things considered, I think he went super in the trial,” was Sears’ assessment. ‘Like I said, he is a bit of a gross horse now and he had a massive blow after the trial.
“He normally has a 650m jump-out first … so, straight into an 840m was a bit of an ask for him, particularly coming up against those two quality horses, but I think he handled himself really well.
‘To see him come back in the order that he has … we are stoked with him.”
Steady Ready has never finished out of the money in seven starts … claiming two wins, two second placings and three third place finishes.
His two wins came by wide margins … 5.75 lengths on debut and by 4.30 lengths in his fourth start, underlining his galloping prowess when on-song. He has also placed twice in Listed company when finishing second in the Dalrello behind Exo Lady … who would go on to run second in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes … and third in the Gold Edition behind the very useful Golden Boom.
Steady Ready also did his connections proud when finishing third in his big home-town feature, the King Of The Mountain, last December … a race won by his stable companion Yellow Brick who franked that form by then running a very close second in the $2 million Magic Millions Three-Year-Old Guineas.
“He (Steady Ready) will go first-up on Weetwood day in a Class 3 over 1000,” confirmed Sears … the same day that the Sears camp’s current stable star, Yellow Brick, will tackle Toowoomba’s big day’s main feature race … and then, moving forward, we could well see history repeat itself in terms of the running of the 2023 edition of the King Of The Mountain race if Yellow Brick and Steady Ready stay on track to possibly once again fill the two slots that are held by Sears Team.
